Perfect.

This was a perfect episode that dares to asks the dangerous, treacherous, risky, terrifying question: What if? I recommend this episode (Anthology of Interest I) to anyone who likes Futurama, and of course, anyone who has time to sit down and watch it.

Professor Farnsworth used his new Thing-Longer to access his What-If machine.

Fry's Question: What would happen if he didn't come to the future?
What Happens: Fry is visited by Al Gore, Stephen Hawking, Gary Gygax, and Nichelle Nichols when he opens a rip in the space-time continuum.
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Leela's Question: What would happen if she were more impulsive?
What Happens: She kills everyone and ends up having sex with Fry.
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Bender's Question: What would happen if he were giant?
What Happens: He dies.

Hilarious and clever.

Just like the episode Three Hundred Big Boys it was very smart and creative to use 3 storylines like in the Treehouse Of Horror series. My favorite storyline was the one where Bender becomes 500 hundred feet tall and some hilarious parts in the episode is when Bender kept crushing people accedentially and when Fry and Bender are playing hide and seek and Fry trys to find Bender and he is obviously hiding behind a tree and since he is so tall Fry could have have easily found him but he still couldn't. Also when Leela kept turning off the lights and stuck everyone on this pointy thing and it was very funny when Leela pushed Farnsworth in the pit with man eating ant eaters and he says to Leela you've killed me and Leela says what have I done and he says I just told you what you've done, you've killed me. Overall because of this episodes unique storylines and hilarity is why this episode is amazing.

hilarious episode

The 'What if" machine invented by Professor Farnsworth allows the user to ask a what if question and see what the results would be.

We see three such questions asked in this episode. Bender asks what it would be like if he was 500ft tall, Leela asks what if she was more impulsive and Fry asks what if he had never came to the future.

All three stories are enjoyable but Bender as a giant robot destroying the city of New New York fighting an equally large Dr. Zoidberg over who gets to have the city to themselves is my easily favourite.

Bender's enormous, Leela's impulsive, Fry's not in the future...oh my!

If you asked me what my two favourite Futurama episodes were, the answer you get is this:
Anthology of Interest I.
Anthology of Interest II.
These episodes are pure brilliance, in which the three main characters, Fry, Bender and Leela, get a glimpse at their lives "if".
In this particular episode, Bender asks what life would be like if he was 500ft tall, Leela's wants to know what things would be like if she was a little more impulsive, and Fry wants to know what would happen if he never came to the future.
Naturally, you get hilarious consequences, when Bender dies in a King-Kong-ish finish, Leela kills everyone and sleeps with Fry, and Fry destroys the universe...naturally.
Highly recommend this one, watch it if you have the chance.
I. Just. Love it.

Another one of my favorite episodes from this brilliant season.

Prologue
Professor Farnsworth invites the employees of Planet Express to see his new invention: the Fing-longer. As he tries it out, it activates the What-If machine, a device that allows the user to view a simulation of a hypothetical scenario after the user asks it a 'what-if' question. The Professor then invites the crew to try out the What-If machine.

[edit] Terror at 500 Feet
Bender asks the What-If machine what would happen if he were 500 feet tall. The simulation begins with the giant Bender being built by hundreds of regular-sized bending units. He reaches Earth, crashes onto Central Park and meets with a recently unfrozen Fry, becoming good friends with him. There is a montage of the things they do to MMMbop, by Hanson. Giant Bender destroys nearly all of Central Park (Including squashing Hanson, mid-concert.) and the military is sent to deal with him.

The military is unable to damage Bender, but when they shoot Fry, he is electrocuted. Bender wreaks havoc upon New New York. Especially because he is friends with Fry, their havoc seems even worse when playing games. To combat Bender, the Professor uses his enlarging-ray on Zoidberg, only to see him wreak havoc as well, interrupted by Bender who isn't pleased with Zoidberg destroying "his" city. The two fight and Bender finally appears to win by pushing Zoidberg into a stadium of boiling water.

While Bender laughs in triumph, he is distracted by Fry. An enraged Zoidberg rises out of the water and snaps off Bender's feet, causing his impalement on the Empire State Building. A tearful Fry admonishes the citizens of New New York City about the tragedy of Bender, whose final words lament his inability to fulfill his dream: the killing of all humans. Bender dies, and the scenario ends.

[edit] Dial L for Leela
The Professor asks Leela to try out the What-If machine. She asks what would happen if she were a little more impulsive.

Leela shows off her new boots bought on impulse, the only difference being a green stripe down the side. The Professor summons Leela to tell her that she will be his sole heir as she is so unimpulsive. He then proceeds to lean over a pit containing his man-eating anteaters while commenting on how very rich Leela will be as soon as he dies-the slightly more impulsive Leela gives in to her impulses and kicks him into the pit, where the anteaters eat him. As Hermes discovers her role in the death in a video will, she is forced to silence him by stuffing his body down a drain in pieces. When Bender deduces that she is the murderer, he proceeds to extort (Bender prefers "extort" to "blackmail", believing the x makes it sound cooler) money from her in return for his silence. Leela reacts by killing Bender with microwave rays (from the kitchen microwave) and turning his body into a go-cart. Horrified by how her murderous impulses are getting the better of her, Leela decides that whenever she wants to kill someone, she'll chew a piece of gum to distract herself. Amy insults Leela when she rides the go-cart. Leela asks Amy for a piece of gum. Amy has none, so Leela kills her and stuffs the body into a grandfather clock.

Zoidberg summons the rest of the crew in order to solve the murders. While Zoidberg obliviously reveals clues, Cubert, Scruffy and Nibbler attempt to implicate Leela, only to be slain by her whenever she turns off the lights. Zoidberg discovers Amy's body in the clock with her hand clutching a lock of purple hair. He then finds a letter from the deceased Bender, which finally reveals to him the identity of the killer. Just as he is about to reveal it to Fry (the only other living crew member), Fry declares Zoidberg "boring" and leaves the room. Leela kills (and eats) Zoidberg. When Fry finally figures out the next day that she was responsible for the murders, Leela is forced to do something really impulsive: sleep with him to keep him quiet. Fry declares that he likes the new, impulsive Leela. She then ominously asks Fry to turn off the lights. Fry does so and promptly begins screaming-and then says that he really likes her.

[edit] The Un-Freeze of a Lifetime
After being told that Bender's scenario would not be done again, Fry asks what would happen if he had not been frozen.

Fry narrowly misses falling into the cryogenic tube, and a rift in the space-time continuum appears, which shows the Planet Express crew in the future. The next day, after talking to Mr. Panucci, he comes to the attention of Stephen Hawking who arranges for Fry to be abducted. He is introduced to the "Vice Presidential Action Rangers", led by Al Gore, whose task is to protect the space-time continuum.

Fry explains what happened the previous night at the cryogenic facility and the Vice Presidential Action Rangers determine that Fry was supposed to die and try to kill him. Another rift appears during the attempted murder and Nichelle Nichols suggests that Fry be frozen and Gary Gygax gives Fry his +1 mace for protection against drunken robots in the future. Just before Fry is frozen, he smashes the cryogenic tube, causing the universe to collapse into a space-time rift. This results in Fry and the Vice Presidential Action Rangers appearing in some other indeterminate dimension which is not part of the universe. The scenario ends with them playing Dungeons and Dragons for the next quadrillion years.

[edit] Conclusion
After the end of Fry's scenario, the Professor curses the What-If machine for simulating scenarios even he found preposterous and dumps it into the trash can. He then judges the Fing-Longer to be a rousing success and is congratulated by the crew. It is then shown that everything before was just a simulation by the What-If machine when the professor asked what would have happened if he had invented the Fing-Longer, leaving him to lament about the possibilities if he had invented it.

Another one of the best ones ever!

Another one of the best ones ever, that makes two on my top 5 in a row. This was meant to be a Futurama version of the Simpsons' 'Treehouse of Horror' episodes, and I wish they'd made more. The idea of the 'what if' machine is fantastic and allows the characters to really explore new areas. The most succesful story is the one where Leela goes on a killing spree, which is simply some of the best television ever made, solid laughs all the way through. You get Leela finally getting her own back on Amy for her ****** comments, and Zoidberg's exposition, which is pure comic genius. I could talk about this forever. Anyway, the Bender is really huge story was almost as good, especially capturing Zoidberg with a ginea pig and his subsequent rampage. The Fry story is slightly less good, but with a great cameo from Stephen Hawking.

The Professor invents an what if machine and the gang uses it to tap into what their lives would be if......... It has hilarious stories, such as Bender being a giant, Leela a murderer, and Fry who never came to the future. I love this episode and highly

This show reminds me of the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Series with different stories presented within the 21 minute time limit. Bender as a giant robot is hilarious and Leela as a murderer. Good stuff. I would have liked to see soemthign like this be an occurence in the show because it allows the writers to stretch their limits and just have fun. The last line in the show is great and I will not give it away in case you ahve not seen the episode yet. I will say it deals with the Professor. This is a must view for the Futurama fan.

Introduction of the What If machine

This episode is similar to the "Treehouse" series of the simpsons where there are three segments that wouldn't usually be done on the show. I loved Fry wanting to see what would happen if Bender was a giant:
Leela: You idiot! We already saw that.
Fry: I know. I liked it. I wanna see it again.
All the segments were fantastic especially Bender being tall and Leela being impulsive ("New boots"). Fry's segment was confusing but still hilarious and doesn't lower the perfect score at all. Giant Zoidberg Vs Giant Bender was funny but my favourite scene would have to be the accusing parlour and at the end of Leela's segment, I'm sure Fry wished she was a little more impulsive.

Anthology Of Interest 1

This is the best episode of Season 2 I have ever seen. It is my favourite episode from Season 2. It was real exciting and funny. It is well written and I also like the follow up to it was awesome plus all the segments were hillarious for the first part of the episode of the sequal.

Three short stories

The 'What if" machine invented by Professor Farnsworth allows the user to ask a what if question and see what the results would be.

We see three such questions asked in this episode. Bender asks what it would be like if he was 500ft tall, Leela asks what if she was more impulsive and Fry asks what if he had never came to the future.

All three stories are enjoyable but Bender as a giant robot destroying the city of New New York fighting an equally large Dr. Zoidberg over who gets to have the city to themselves is my easily favourite.

Still another great filler

This was perhaps the best episode EVER. A great plot, and lots of funny jokes. I especially like the impulsive Leela, the 500ft Bender and Al Gore. And because it's just the what-if-machine that makes it happen, it won't affect later episodes. All sorts of crazy stuff can happen, just like the Treehouse of horror episodes in the Simpsons.

First What-If Episode of Futurama is a huge success!

The first anthology of interest follows the plot structure of telling 3 stories in 20 minutes using a What-If scenario. This is basically the equivalant of the Treehouse of Horror episodes from the Simpsons, but in Futurama style basically.

The story opens with Farnsworth using his new invention called The Finglonger which is used to operate the What-If machine.
Bender asks what it would be like if he was 500ft tall, and he befriends Fry, but gets into a war with Earth and ends up losing, claiming his dream to be to kill all Humans, ending with Fry saying "Good Night, Sweet Prince"
The 2nd story focuses on Leela asking what it would be like if she was more impulsive. In A "Dial M for Murder" Futurama parody, Leela ends up killing everyone in impulse, but at the end, when Fry finds out it was her who committed all the murders, she sleeps with him to keep his mouth shut.
The final story focuses on Fry and asks a question about what if he never fell into the Cryogenics tube and landed into the future. He ends up causing a time hole in which all of his future friends show up, and Stephen Hawking and Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons and Dragons, end up trying to kill Fry to fix the hole, but in the end, Fry messes it up by damaging the tube he was supposed to fall in, sucking him and the others into a void with nothing in it, and Gygax suggests playing Dungeons and Dragons for the next quadrillion years.
The end of the story shows Professor Farnsworth asking what it would have been like if he had invented the Finglonger, and it turns out everything happened in that What-If question.

Overall, the first AOE is very funny and the structure works very well. Not much more to say about this, but its on par with the 2nd one. The best story on this one is the Leela one in case you were wondering.

One of two Anthology of Interest shows.

This show revolves around three short stories. The professor has built a "What if" machine and asks the crew if they would like to try it and ask a question. Bender goes first and asks "What if I were five hundred feet tall?". The machine then shows them what would happen with a giant Bender. Then Leela asks "What if I were more impulsive?". The machine then shows that scenario as well. Then Fry first asks about Bender being a giant again then he asks "What if I never came to the year three thousand?". The machine then shows his "what if" scenario.

Very interesting!

This was a great episode. It provides a gateway to new ideas that wouldn't "normally" happen on the show. Tales of Interest is right. This was a very interesting episode, as is the second one. If the show is ever brought back, or there are new episodes to DVD, I would hope that they would do more of these.

This is definitely better than Anthology Of Interest 2.

OK, I gotta say I fully enjoyed it. While the plot is unoriginal, the outcomes from the things they ask are funny as hell! How could you turn this down! And Leela finally having sex with Fry? Classic! (Hell, they could make a porn video out of Leela and Fry and I\'d watch it to see Leela naked.) But on the other side, how could you compare this to Jurassic Bark, The Sting, and Luck Of The Fryrish? You couldn\'t. That\'s the problem. So, I\'ll leave it up to TV.com to say what\'s good and what\'s not for other people. But I\'ve got my faves.

Another superb episode.

PLOT: The Planet Express crew discover Farnsworth's "What-If" Machine where you ask the machine a question, and it shows you a video simulation of what would happen. Bender asks it what would happen if he were 500 feet tall, Leela asks it what would happen if she were a little more impulsive, and Fry asks it what would have happened if he never came to the future.

This was yet another superb episode. It had a lot of superb funny moments, like 500 foot tall Bender saying, "I'm a big robot, and I want a big cereal." during Bender's "What-If" simulation, Zoidberg saying that his next clue came at 4:15 when the clock stopped, and then another came two hours later at 4:15 when he discovered Amy's dead body during Leela's "What-If" simulation, and Stephen Hawking's comments about how he didn't like the pizza at "Panucci's Pizza" during Fry's "What-If" simulation.
So, most of the comedy in this episode is in the dialogue, IMO. The plot was good and the "What-If" Machine's simulation plots were great, as well. I liked how, at the end, this entire episode was just a "What-If" simulation of what would happen if Farnsworth had invented a "Finglonger" that Farnsworth was watching on the "What-If" Machine. Overall, another superb episode.
9/10.
~Pharaoh2.

As a Zoidberg fan, this one's my favorite.

My appreciation of this episode is definitely enhanced by the fact that I used to work for the Chase Bank (if you've seen the episode, you already know what I mean -- if you haven't, well, you'll still enjoy the moment when you see it.)

Any show that can get Vice-President Al Gore to appear as himself can't be bad, eh? Other voice "appearances" by Stephen Hawking, Nichelle Nichols, Gary Gygax make this one of the more intriguing episodes to watch again.

Okay, so it's not the biggest part for Zoidberg, but it is one of the funniest. Look out for Leela's lunch, too. Awwwww.

Only drawback I see is with the wrap-up -- I could have done without that "this was all a dream" kind of ending.

Don't ask "What if?...".WATCH "what if..."!

The proffesor builds a machine that shows you what would happen if (Place random plot twist here).So we see the alternate reality's of Bender,Leela,and Fry.First,we see Bender's alternate reality,where he turns out to be a colosous!Leela becomes over impulsive,and go's on a killing spree,and well...We all knew fry would somehow shatter the universe eventually...It's a great episode.Trust me on this...

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